Great Film: The Italian Job
Slick, amusing caper film; Gray's best movie featuring Davis' best soundtrack
My reaction to this remake of "The Italian Job" is probably hopelessly
mixed up with the events occurring in my life when I saw it; This is
the first movie I saw after I had just landed a job after 8 months of
unemployment and going back to school for retraining. Money was still
tight, but I no longer had to choose between seeing a movie in the
theaters and paying bills (or eating lunch), and the sense of relief
and gratitude I was feeling at the time was enormous. In consequence,
my enjoyment of "Italian Job" was probably far out of proportion to its
actual worth.
Still, I picked it up used on DVD a few weeks ago and watched it again,
and I still enjoyed it immensely. I have never seen the original
(though I have heard it is an absolute classic), but its modern day
counterpart is eminently watchable if you have a taste for modern day
production values applied to older films plots and themes.
What initially won me over to this movie was the soundtrack - IMO Don
Davis writes some of the most supple, textured and aurally pleasing
soundtracks around. IJ opens with a sly, witty, pulsing arrangement
that combines strings, guitar harmonics, brush work and quiet moments -
it won me over completely from the opening seconds. And the whole movie
is like this - I haven't heard this kind of ringing, chiming, pulsing
soundtrack music since Stewart Copeland left the Police and started
doing soundtracks for movies like "Rumble Fish". There are at least a
dozen irresistibly scored motifs in here, along with some pop song
remakes that range from "all right" to "inspired". For people to whom
the soundtrack is important, this movie is a delight.
On to the movie: I can take or leave Mark Wahlberg, but he's okay here
as the leading man, and the movie doesn't ask him to do anything he
can't do well. He's the weakest "major" actor in the film, but that's
because the rest of supporting cast is so strong, especially Donald
Sutherland in a bit part. Mos Def, Jason Steadham, Ed Norton, Seth
Green and Charlize Theron all turn in solid, fat-free performances.
Norton seems to mostly be phoning it in (rumor has it that he didn't
really want to be in the film), but he's still a natural even at 1/2
power. My one quibble with the casting and acting is with the character
"Wrench", who seems to be a male model pretending to be an actor. His
part seems to be shoehorned into the movie, and he has little chemistry
with the rest of the cast (although you can blame some of that on the
size of the part and the "late walk on" nature of the character). If I
were a cynical sort,I would wonder who the actor slept with to get put
into this movie in such a supernumerary role? Nah, never happen...
Production values, camera work, stunts, plot...everything cooks along
quite nicely and Gray and his production crew pull things together
pretty seamlessly (with the exception of the "Wrench" character, see
above).
The dialog has a nice, light touch that rewards your indulgence, and
there are several satisfying major and minor plot payoffs along the
way. (My favorite moment - when Norton's character tells Wahlberg's
character that he's just lost the element of surprise. Wahlberg
proceeds to cold cock Norton with a right cross, and then asks him,
"Were you surprised??" Hmmm, maybe you had to be there...)
Of course the movie requires a certain level of "suspension of
disbelief" to work, but if you just relax and go along with it (and
don't think too hard about the mechanics of cracking a safe underwater,
or the likelihood of anyone being able to successfully hack and
manipulate LA traffic via a laptop, etc), you'll have a fun ride.
"The Italian Job": it's lightweight summer fluff, but it's very good
for what it is, and it doesn't try to be anything else. It isn't good
enough for an "8" but I'd give it a "7.5".
Cast
- John Bridger played by Donald Sutherland
- Stella Bridger played by Charlize Theron
- Steve played by Edward Norton
- Charlie Croker played by Mark Wahlberg
- Lyle played by Seth Green
- Handsome Rob played by Jason Statham
- Left Ear played by Mos Def
